


Great, Cool

by Deadly_Sirius



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Genius!Peter, Heir!Peter, M/M, Musician!Harley, One Shot, Post-Break Up, Songfic, Swearing, They Gave Up On Themselves, dumb bitches, no happy ending, this is all angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 12:40:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19209634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deadly_Sirius/pseuds/Deadly_Sirius
Summary: Peter starts to find success and Harley ends up supporting him from the sidelines until he's forgotten. But he doesn't realize that Peter feels the same way.The way Harley remembers it, Peter just grew too big.The way Peter remembers it, Harley just had too much passion.





	Great, Cool

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Great, Cool](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/490354) by Joey Contreras ft. Blake Daniel, Ben Fankhauser. 



> This is a songfic of the song "Great, Cool" by Joey Contreras ft. Blake Daniel and Ben Fankhauser. I just started listening to it and I couldn't help but write something. Plus, I've been so obsessed with these boys recently that I had to write about them. Sorry for the angst.
> 
> Here's the YouTube link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWxrToLJleo

The way Harley remembers it, Peter just grew too big. Larger than life. Even without revealing his secret identity and superhero powers and all of those clichés, he was still Tony Stark's heir. He was this incredibly smart kid rivaled by no other his age. Harley, at first, could go to the award ceremony and cheer and give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek as Peter headed to the stage to thank a small committee profusely. But when one ceremony turned into the seventh, and the interviews from no-names turned into press tours and Times articles, Harley couldn't keep up anymore. He was drowning. He was totally, utterly, completely fucking drowning.

The way Peter remembers it, Harley just had too much passion. Even with Peter constantly traveling and giving speeches, Harley was always in his corner. Until suddenly, he wasn't anymore. He wanted to be, but he needed to finish this project, needed to put this  _thing_ into words, needed to fix this error, needed to write the answer down, needed to hit record and just play. Harley tried to do everything, be everything all at once. He was like Tony. He didn't sleep, he worked constantly and even though Peter was the same, he at least knew when to shut his eyes, when to say thank you and then go home after. Harley never could go home. He didn't have one, not after his mom passed and his sister moved away and Tony sacrificed himself. Pepper always opened her arms to him, but Harley had to build something for himself, do  _something_ worthwhile. Something somebody could notice.

All Peter wanted was for Harley to be his, was to take a step back and breathe, to just be himself and be okay with that.

All Harley wanted was for Peter to be his, was to be able to say no and stay home the weekend of their anniversary, to just be himself and be okay with that.

Peter was becoming the second Tony Stark and he was filling the shoes, while Harley was, yet again, being forgotten by a Tony-Stark-type and needing to forge his own path, support himself.

Harley was becoming his own man and building and burning with passion to create, while Peter was, yet again, being recognized on accident and for the wrong things, still mourning those he'd lost while hiding behind familiar masks.

 

There was an article in the paper about some award, some ceremony, some grant for something smart Peter did to advance something. Harley never read the paper, of course seeing it in a waiting room, an office, blown by on the sidewalk the moment Peter's face was on the front page. He cut out the photo and, surprisingly sentimental for how callous he pretended to be, he slipped it between the pages of a book about mechanics Peter had bought him. It was the first gift he'd ever given Harley. All throughout were photos of them and moments captured forever that were painful to look at, but that Harley needed to know he had, just in case.

When everything got bad, Harley would pretend he was reading the book and would be surprised by the pieces of paper that fell out with pictures of them and napkins where Peter wrote notes to him at a bar. It wasn't his fault he remembered the exact pages with the exact memories he needed to see again. Things were good, things were really good then.

But they made the right decision. They both did what they should've done to make sure they got exactly what they wanted. Peter chasing his dreams and making headlines and exactly where he needed to be.

 

Peter was traveling, again, for some speech he was giving. He didn't remember why he was giving it or what it was even about, but he knew he was in Japan. And then suddenly, his translator asks a driver to turn on the radio to fill the silence of Peter checking his phone and checking out. A little button was pressed and Peter's head snapped up. That was Harley's voice. His barely-pubescent voice from years and years ago was singing through the speakers. Peter could recognize the sound in an instant. It was a song he'd written at fifteen, back when Tony was alive, back when Peter was still in high school, back when they were still pining for one another, about Peter Parker.

He'd shown the song to Peter the day after he'd recorded it to express his feelings for the boy and they hadn't looked back as they rushed towards the future. Until everything stopped and they had "grown apart" and everything dropped and they started looking back once it was too late.

Harley Keener had a hit song in Japan from when he was fifteen. And although the irony was painful and the memory should have stayed buried, it was... nice. Peter was glad to know Harley was there with him, was everywhere for something that  _he_ did, something that Tony Stark couldn't touch. Harley was finding success in his own way and it sounded lovely to hear him through a stranger's speakers trying not to miss him so dearly and not just in his headphones while blushing and thinking about how lucky teenaged him was to have Harley.

 

Everything got bad, so bad that just looking at photos in a meaningful book wasn't enough. Harley reached for his phone and was nearly pressing Peter's contact when he got a call. From Peter. He scrambled to sit up and accepted the call without thinking twice.

But then he started thinking and the phone was at his ear and he wasn't saying anything because what was there to say? But Peter also wasn't saying anything, and the lack of Peter's voice let the background fill in and Harley's heart raced.

"Is-is that-" Harley cleared his throat. "Is that my song? The one I wrote for-"

"It's not me playing it," Peter said, as if that would make everything better. "No, really, I'm not playing it. I'm-I'm in Japan for a conference--or a graduation ceremony or some random shit, fuck I can't remember--but it's playing on the radio. My driver was singing along. He said it's really popular over here. You're, like, famous. Fifteen-year-old you is famous in Japan, Harley."

Peter saying his name nearly made Harley start crying but he breathed deeply even though it felt like he'd just been shot in the chest. "You're, uh, winning awards still. I just saw you in the paper. You're making headlines just like you wanted and being a positive influence and all that shit. It sounds like you're exactly where you need to be. You're doing great..."

The call went silent as both struggled for words.

"I mean you-you've got all this success. With your book out now and you've got that place of your own. You're making a name for yourself all over. It sounds like you're doing great which is... really cool. I, uh, I hope it's what you thought it'd be," Peter said.

"Y-yeah, Japan man, that's crazy-"

"But see," Peter cut him off, "the truth is... I miss you. Just so you know." When Harley didn't respond, Peter forged ahead. "We both... We both said some things in the past and I can't help feeling like we were confused, you know? Like we thought our love wouldn't last because of everything and that we just... gave up on it and we didn't even try. We were so young, and-"

"You don't get to say that Peter." Harley tried to keep his voice steady. "You don't get to call me and just say that you miss me. You can't- you can't  _do_ that. It was great,  _we_ were great. We had a love that everyone wanted. But we chose to go our own separate ways for ourselves. We chose that because that was the better choice."

"And you're doing great, cool, I get it."

"And so are you. It's fine, it's wonderful. It's great to be so... _unbound,_ now, isn't it? Wasn't it worth sacrificing you and me for it all?"

"I just can't help feeling, sometimes, like I was such a fucking fool-"

"We both did what we should have done, so it's great. It's cool."

"But this shit just keeps getting lonelier as I go."

"Yeah, but we chose it. And we made the right decision."

"Yeah, it all turned out great..." When Peter came back to his trailed off thought, it was barely a squeak and Harley almost missed it. "Right?"

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments/kudos if you liked it!! Thanks for reading <3


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